Excellent Christmas Gifts for the Big Game Hunter

Doug Giles

12/6/2008 10:04:09 PM - Doug Giles

If you’re looking for unique Christmas gifts for the hunter in your life, then man, oh man, do I have some hunting candy for you. Herewith are two unique gifts that’ll make your hardcore hunting loved one more giddy on Christmas morning than Bill Clinton on the front row of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show without Hillary.

Boddington on Elephant with Ivan Carter

Craig Boddington, noted outdoor writer and TV personality, has just released the most exciting, insane and informative elephant hunting video to ever land on this planet. Boddington on Elephant consists of two DVDs: The first video volley is an unbelievable, raucous romp featuring multiple elephants hunted up close and in your face with powerful Nitro Express double rifles and bolt action elephant guns. I just salivated.

I have two words for this DVD: Cray-Zee. Squirrel hunting this is not. Most professional hunters schlepping this pebble would not put themselves in such a predicament with these earth-moving, man-squashing pachyderms, but Craig and his PH Ivan Carter did. I guarantee your hunting enthusiast will feel a little bit of the excitement Craig and his hunting buddies got saddled with making this bad mamajama.

The second DVD of Boddington on Elephant is the essential soup to nuts of elephant hunting. Topics include: why hunt elephant, elephant conservation, the golden age of elephant hunting, guns and loads for elephant, elephant biology and herd dynamics, elephant behavior and trophy assessment—just to name a few.

Oh yeah, in case you’re wondering, the hunting footage isn’t three hours of grainy Blair Witch, out of focus, unsteady, make-you-wanna-vomit, hideous, all over the map video crap like your Uncle Hooter shot of your husband’s last whitetail hunt. It’s crystal clear, steady Freddy copy that’ll make you drool your drink down your shirt. Major props to the big cojones camera man who did an excellent job with rock solid, over the shoulder, screen-filling scream shots.

One more thing: Even if your hunting loved one will never hunt elephant, this DVD is a one of a kind classic Africa hunting movie that will leave the viewer gobsmacked. This is the real deal, folks, and BOE solidly earns my hunting video rating of NBH: Not Boring as Heck. Check out a sample video clip and purchase copies of the DVD here at www.craigboddington.com.

Fear No Death: The Truth about Fear and Being Fearless, by Mark Sullivan

The most controversial contemporary African professional hunter breathing air this century has got to be Mark Sullivan. Mark is famous/infamous for hunting that which can hunt him, namely Africa’s most deadly game, up close and in their face.

Mark has a maxim that he lives by when hunting dangerous game and it is this: Let’s let the animal decide how he’s going to die. Translation? Mark chooses to close the distance between the hunter and the hunted to mere feet and give the animal the insane opportunity to turn him and his clients into worm dirt. Hey, it ain’t for everybody, but it sure makes for page-turning hunting literature and repeat video viewing. Matter of fact, I broke the rewind button on my DVD player because of Mark’s movies. I’m guessing I’ve watched his flicks more than Earl Warren viewed the Zapruder film.

As you can imagine, these lethal critters don’t dig Sullivan’s intrusion into their space and often come in head strong and take him and his clients on. Sullivan has purposely sought out this exchange for the last 18 years and has been “blessed” with this crucible too many times to count. He’s still alive, and I could be wrong, but I’m betting he knows what he is talking about when he writes and speaks about fear and overcoming it.

Matter of fact, if I ran a speaker’s bureau I would sign Sullivan up . . . like right now. Talk about a guy who has looked death in the face more times than Joan Rivers’ husband had to. He has faced fear in its most raw, kill-or-be-killed form and has outlived eight cats with nine lives and thus, I believe, he could greatly help some junior sales punk who’s afraid of being rejected by persnickety clients.

It goes without saying—but I’m going to say it anyway—that Mark’s method of hunting is not for the faint of heart, weak-minded, those late on their life insurance payment or for those just starting Flomax. Hunting Sullivan style requires four things: focus, calculated risk, a big gun and brass wedding tackle. You have to want to hunt in a raw, primal sense to seek out Sullivan—and by the way, who hunts dangerous game and wants to be too safe?

In Fear No Death, Mark is not shy about why he hunts the way he hunts and why you should do it like he does. He often ridicules other professional hunters who do not cowboy up, give the animal its due and their client the greatest bang for their buck by leaving them with undeletable memory burn which comes from close proximity with possible death by the horn, tusk, tooth or foot.

Look, whether you like Mark or not, you must bow and kiss his ring when he speaks about dealing with fear, calibers and weapons for hunting dangerous game and where to place your shot when a ticked off hippo is coming at you full speed and is two feet from your crotch. This is not theory or campfire bluster from Sullivan. If he’s wrong, he doesn’t get fired or get to go back to the lab, no . . . he gets to meet Jesus.

To purchase Mark Sullivan’s destined to be classic book on hunting Africa’s most deadly game, log on to www.NitroExpressSafaris.com . When you purchase Sullivan’s book, he will throw in one of his amazing $50 hunting DVDs for free. I recommend Greatest Hippo Charges: Vol. 1. While on Mark’s site be sure to check out his little video sampler. You’ll see what I’m talking about. Oh, yes. You’ll see.

So, Christmas shopper . . . forego the socks, neckties and talking bass you were going to get your hunting loved one and get that hunter of yours Boddington’s new DVD and Sullivan’s new book, and your hunter will be happier than a pig in fresh mud. And be sure to tell them Doug Giles and ClashRadio.com sent you . . .